Things have changed a lot in Pasadena since the city’s early years. I’m not sure you can still get lumber on Colorado Blvd. But you could in 1880. My guess is that lumber and other building supplies were in high demand during this era. The 1880s saw a Southern California boom cycle and cities like Pasadena were growing exponentially.

One thing is for sure – Colorado Blvd quickly gained a reputation for bad traffic. Did the powers that be ever get a handle on that? Well…I’ve seen worse. Here’s the same general area today – known as “Old Town Pasadena.” I think I can even see a parking space.

Those of you who were Cosmic America readers may remember a while back when I stumbled across a Union Civil War veteran’s grave in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Unsure of exactly who this person was, I turned to my readership to discover – with the help of a few people much better at these things than I – that said veteran, one F.A. Whitehead, had served in two branches of the armed forces, had a run-in with the government over desertion (he name was eventually cleared) and wound up as a citrus farmer in Florida and ultimately…Southern California.

As we all know citrus farming was a primary motivating factor for a number of the Civil War era generation when it came to pursuing their livelihood in the West. Of those who moved to the region to proceed with this lucrative vocation, almost all were well-to-do middle class or higher types, and most were middle aged or older.

It took money, patience, and experience to succeed in the citrus business – something perhaps not best suited for a younger, perhaps insolvent individual.

I revisited Hollywood Forever Cemetery today to pay my respects to Whitehead and look for other Union veterans. I found plenty. So again…I turn to my readers. Any information on these fine fellows would be greatly appreciated. I wonder if they were in the citrus business too.

Well aren’t these handsome little critters? The problem of course, is if you should happen across them, you might just find your self with a case of pulmonary tuberculosis. Our friends in the nineteenth century called it consumption. And it was a killer. By some estimates, in the mid-nineteenth century, consumption accounted for as many as one in seven deaths in certain regions (such as New England) of the United States.

By the 1870s, medical researchers had determined (after a number of years of isolating reports geographically) that climate could greatly help – even cure – those with early stages of consumption. In addition to vigorous activity and proper nutrition, warmth, sunshine, and aridity were believed to reverse the course of the disease.

And consumptives came to Southern California by the trainload. The disease – or rather, the hope of a cure – was thus one of the many motivating factors that brought the Civil War generation to the West in the 1870s and 80s. What is more important is that many, reclaiming their health, stayed and would help build the region politically, economically, and culturally. Individuals such as James M. Guinn and Thaddeus S. C. Lowe come immediately to mind.

We have the Southern California boosters to thank. During the period the contributed to a real boomtime mania; as one historian suggests – promoting faith in the omnipotence of a healthful climate. Local analysts observed the growth of the “invalid” newcomer community and exactly what they brought to the table.

[quote]Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego counties have been practically developed and made what they are by the Eastern people who came out here for their health. They may be a ‘one-lunged crowd,’ as the facetious Missourians and old-timers dub them, but they have shown an amount of business and enterprise which puts the Californian to shame.[/quote]

And so it turns out that a pretty nasty disease became something of a developmental factor when it comes to the culture of Southern California, and as we will likely see in upcoming posts, sufferers having found their cure who stayed on to make a life in the West contributed handily to the identity of the region.

Harristorian Tees – historically inspired tee-shirts

Across the Bloody Chasm – Now Available!!!

Praise for Across the Bloody Chasm

“One of Harris’s chief contributions is his recovery of lost ambiguities, intentions, and memories, which fairly quickly were obscured by national self-interest and the ignorance of Americans who did not fight or who were born after the war.” - American Historical Review

“Harris makes a persuasive case that in the battle for Civil War memory neither Union nor Confederate veterans were willing to concede much to their former enemies. . . . Across the Bloody Chasm makes a worthwhile addition to growing literature on historical memory of the American Civil War by demonstrating the limits of postwar reconciliation among veterans.” - Journal of American History

''Well written and accompanied by 84 pages of notes, a bibliography, and an index, the study . . . stands as a major contribution to a discourse still central to the polity of the US. Highly recommended.'' - Choice

“[An] uncommonly well written and concise book. . . . M. Keith Harris is to be commended for clarifying why the process of national reconciliation took much longer than we have previously recognized and the role that Civil War veterans played in it.” - Civil War Book Review

“Harris . . . makes extensive use of regimental histories as he believes they document the true views of the veterans. He also makes good use of the speeches and commemorative programs published during veterans’ gatherings over the decades after the war. . . . Harris’s treatment of the various issues and themes is a useful reminder of what our veterans, and our country, went through in the years after the Civil War as every American, but especially veterans, tried to digest the importance of the bloody conflict the country had endured and the role each of them had played in it.” - On Point